1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, and an image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In these years, improvements in performances of projectors and the like have allowed higher-definition images to be projected on larger screens. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-284990 discloses a technology that uses a plurality of projectors to combine a plurality of images that have been divided and wirelessly transmitted on a large screen. In these years, advertising media (digital signage) called electronic signboards are also widely used that display video pictures and information using digital data.
In general, conventional projectors project images on the assumption that the projection images are viewed from the front of a screen. In the same manner, the digital signage displays images so that the images correctly appear when viewed from the front of a display.
There is, for example, a problem that a user located on an end side of a screen on which a projector projects an image views the screen from an oblique direction, and sees the projection image projected on the screen as a distorted shape. Specifically, the user located on the end side of the screen views an image that gradually decreases in size from the near side toward the far side of the screen when viewed from the user. The same applies to another user located on the side opposite to the aforementioned user with respect to the screen. This phenomenon in which the projection image appears distorted according to the user position occurs more significantly as the projection image is larger.
The same problem occurs in the digital signage. Suppose, for example, a case in which displays are provided so as to face a direction of a pathway at respective columns lined up at constant intervals on a side of the pathway. In this case, a user walking in the pathway always views the displays from an oblique direction, so that images on the displays appear distorted. To view an image displayed on each of the displays in a correct shape, the user needs to move each time to the front of the display.
Therefore, it is desirable to allow a distortion of an image to be reduced when a screen or a display is viewed from an oblique direction.